In 2026, the LED display industry has reached a subtle juncture. On the surface, it is quieter than in previous years, but underneath, the undercurrents seem more urgent than ever.
Three seemingly unrelated events are happening at the same time:
First, most companies are raising prices, but overall terminal demand is not growing. Material inflation has pushed up costs, yet the output value cannot break through the ceiling of CNY 50 billion;
Second, technological progress in PCB LED displays is slowing down, but glass substrate LED displays are continuously brewing. After panel manufacturers enter the market, the industry is re-understanding the new space for development;
Third, many companies are going overseas with price advantages, but overseas buyers are beginning to demand that the second and third screens they receive maintain consistency with the first delivered screen.
Price increases without volume growth, deceleration with surging undercurrents, and overseas expansion testing trust—each points to the same fact: the rules of the old world are failing, and the rules of the new world are sprouting.
Coincidentally, a rumor is also circulating in the industry: Macroblock has changed its layout rhythm in the PCB LED display industry. Based on 10 years of observation and communication with Macroblock, we have found that this company's decisions are mostly half a year or even a year ahead of the industry.
So, has the rhythm changed, and is this a fact? How does Macroblock judge the current status and future of the industry?
To this end, Hangjiashuo Display specifically scheduled an interview with Mr. Lin Yisheng, General Manager of Macroblock, on the day Macroblock recently held an industry forum. In a nearly two-hour conversation, this manager with a product and technology background shared his thoughts, choices, and persistence in the industry changes without reservation.
We also found that Lin Yisheng's judgment on the industry coincides with the theme of Hangjiashuo's November Display Annual Conference—still waters run deep. The LED display industry will soon usher in a new world—technological evolution seems to be slowing down, but the actual restructuring of the pattern is accelerating; and the fierce competition in mature markets and the difficulty in new tracks are precisely the opportunities to redraw the pattern.
The following are the details of Hangjiashuo Display's conversation with Lin Yisheng, General Manager of Macroblock. It has been organized and edited, with some deletions and modifications without changing the original meaning.
Hangjiashuo Display: 2026 is often referred to in the industry as the "Year of Technological Quietness". From your perspective, has the progress of PCB displays really slowed down?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: It has slowed down, but more accurately, it has entered a period of precipitation. Control systems, driver ICs, LED chips, and packaging—each link has achieved a high degree of maturity when viewed individually, and there is still technological evolution. However, when customers ask "what completely new technologies are there", the answers are not as stunning as they were three or five years ago. More new things appear in scenario reorganization—all-in-one machines, XR shooting, transparent display, automotive—but the underlying technologies are mostly the original ones. This brings a reality: taking driver ICs as an example, the differentiation brought by a single driver IC is shrinking, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for customers to distinguish good from bad simply by looking at the specification sheets.
Hangjiashuo Display: In this environment, has Macroblock's strategic positioning for PCB LED displays changed?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: JMacroblock's basic market is still PCB LED displays. We have been in this market for over twenty years and will not reduce our focus just because the overall technological progress of the industry has slowed down. In the past, good products might have been affected by price competition, marketing narratives, and falsely labeled specifications, which could mislead uninformed customers. But the most important change in the past two years is: screens are no longer just for human eyes, but for machines—mobile phones and cameras will "examine" the screen, making it easier for quality to be objectively seen. For Macroblock, this is also a better era.
Hangjiashuo Display: From public information, Macroblock is currently laying out three substrate technology routes in parallel: PCB, glass, and silicon-based. What are their respective positioning and progress?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: Yes, we are now advancing in three directions simultaneously: PCB, silicon substrate, and glass substrate. PCB is the basic market of Macroblock, and Macroblock has invested in every technology track such as COB/MIP;
In the silicon substrate direction, we have given up AR glasses because multiple technology routes coexist in this scenario. MicroLED has opportunities but the prospects are unclear. However, the application of MicroLED in automotive ADB headlights is very clear, and we have laid out a lot. The forward-looking project MicroLED ADB smart headlight is planned to deliver samples in the second quarter of 2027 and achieve mass production in 2028.
In addition, MicroLED optical interconnection in optical communication is another topic with rapid future growth. Mass production is expected to be around 2029-2030, but a lot of technological layout needs to be done in the early stage because the technological difference from display to optical interconnection is very large. Moreover, this industry is played with an ecosystem approach, requiring great attention to ecosystem positioning. So although this industry is lively, not many are qualified to enter—being able to produce products and having price advantages are just tickets to enter. What ecosystem leaders want is not cost reduction, but suppliers who can cooperate with their future development blueprint; compatibility testing is a hard threshold, and the competition is a high-pressure rhythm of one generation per year. Currently, Macroblock has entered one of the ecosystems and is expected to make an official announcement next year.
As for the glass substrate solution, Macroblock has invested for about seven years. Currently, we are cooperating with several leading panel manufacturers globally, entering the final stage of verification, and are expected to officially start mass production at the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.
Hangjiashuo Display: You just mentioned that glass substrates have been invested in for seven years. You should have personally felt that glass substrates have been expected for many years. Is this time really going to achieve large-scale mass production?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: The advantage of glass substrates is not that "the concept is more advanced", but that it makes LED display move more towards the logic of panel manufacturing: it is suitable for making screens with standard sizes and standard resolutions.
Currently, Jingdongfang, Huaxing, Tianma, Youda, Chenxian, etc., all have different paces in the glass substrate direction. A key signal is: a panel enterprise will announce the mass production of P0.9375 pitch glass substrate MicroLED at the end of the year. The planned annual capacity is not small, reaching tens of thousands of square meters, and behind this are capacity commitments in hand, already supported by clear order demands.
The purpose of panel manufacturers entering is absolutely not the original CNY 50 billion market for PCB screens—that market capitalization is too small for them. What they value is that technology expands the application boundaries, or strategic defense.
But this could indeed bring variables to the industry.
In addition, manufacturers such as Liyade, Zhouming, Leiman, and San'an are also promoting the combination of MIP and glass substrates—this means that glass substrates are not the "exclusive track" of panel manufacturers, and the PCB LED display camp is also actively embracing this technology route. Between PCB and glass substrates, it is not a relationship of who replaces whom, but each finding the scenario most suitable for itself, jointly pushing wider the application boundaries of LED displays.
Hangjiashuo Display: If the mass production of glass substrates is successfully implemented, what changes will occur in its relationship with PCB LED displays?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: The boundaries will become clearer. Glass substrates are more suitable for scenarios with standard sizes, micro-pitches, and high requirements for consistency and splicing; PCB is still suitable for non-standard sizes, small pitches, long-distance wiring, etc.—these scenarios require flexibility, on-site modification, and low-cost customization, which glass substrates are not good at in the short term. The future is more like "glass takes the standardized increment, and PCB guards the non-standard basic market".
Of course, the significance of glass substrates does not lie in "replacing PCB", but in allowing LED displays to enter the sales system of panel manufacturers as a "standard product". If this path is successfully implemented, by the end of next year at the latest, the industry will see clearer mergers and acquisitions or channel integration between panel manufacturers and screen manufacturers.
Hangjiashuo Display: In recent years, screen manufacturers, terminals, and panel ends have already done some integration in the chip link. Does the further merger and integration you mentioned refer to extending to the merger of screen ends?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: Yes, it cannot be ruled out that it will happen in the next two years.
Hangjiashuo Display: Returning to the application level, the PCB LED display industry does not lack capacity now, and glass substrates are adding new capacity. The most critical thing is where the application demand is. From the standard size direction you mentioned, is it all-in-one machines?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: Yes, currently, the volume growth is more in the direction of all-in-one machines. The price of all-in-one machines has dropped to below CNY 50,000 (2K, 135 inches), and sales volume this year is expected to break through tens of thousands of units. Based on comprehensive judgment, with the release of the aforementioned capacity, the cost of glass substrate all-in-one machines may soon be lower than that of PCB. It is very likely that the "TV-style sales" most familiar to panel manufacturers will be brought into the LED display industry next.
Hangjiashuo Display: Another theme in 2026 is cost. Both PCB and driver ICs are squeezed by AI capacity. What does this mean for screen manufacturers?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: AI and high computing power demands have absorbed part of the capacity of wafers, packaging, and PCB equipment. The capacity expansion of PCB and driver ICs used for LED displays is not a priority. The delivery time of PCB equipment is lengthening, and materials such as copper-clad laminates are seeing price increases. The supply will be tight for at least the next year.
There are two results: First, in the past, material prices were relatively stable, and doing engineering orders according to the "locked quotation, production later" model was not a big problem; but now material prices and delivery times are fluctuating. If the old method is still used, it is easy for the received order price to be lower than the arrival cost, resulting in a loss for every order; second, vicious price cuts will converge, the industry will passively reshuffle, and small display screen manufacturers with weak cash flow and unable to get PCB quotas will be forced to exit or be acquired.
But from another perspective of the industry, it is not all bad. In the past, it was easy to focus on the unit price, and false quality labels were covered up; now that costs are uncontrollable, customers will instead examine more carefully what kind of products they are actually getting. Especially overseas customers.
Hangjiashuo Display: Going overseas is also a hot topic, but some manufacturers reflect that they cannot secure repeat purchases overseas. Where is the problem?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: If domestic manufacturers lay out overseas with price advantages, it is indeed easy to fail. Domestically, there is a complete supply chain and service network, with a close supply chain, fast maintenance, and spare parts arriving the next day; overseas, there are sales offices, but localized services, spare parts, engineering, compliance, and labor costs are completely different. For example, once airports, shopping malls, and sports venues operate 24 hours a day, if a box of screens breaks, it is normal to wait a week for replacement, which cannot be solved by "sending a replacement box" as in China.
Deeper down, it is about actual performance and quality consistency. The first screen purchased by buyers has good quality. But in the second and third batches, there may be cases of secretly reducing costs, such as changing materials and relaxing calibration, and problems with low grayscale, refresh rate, and color deviation will be exposed. In the era of mobile phone live streaming, screens are not only examined by human eyes, but by cameras—low grayscale drop, black field in shooting, moiré, and batch differences will all be revealed in one shot.
This is why some manufacturers cannot get continuous orders when going overseas. Overseas buyers look at the consistency of every batch of goods, not a one-time price advantage. Therefore, providing stable, high-quality, and quantifiable products and services is what the industry should focus on now, and it is also the key to successful overseas expansion. Previously, Macroblock proposed "everyone is a photographer" at the ISE exhibition, which is essentially the same issue: image quality standards need to shift from subjective human eyes to machine-measurable.
Hangjiashuo Display: So the focus of this forum on "rejecting false parameters and only talking about perfect experience" is a direct response to this pain point?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: Yes. Today we have specially opened a fair measurement method—the MBEyes AI screen verification system, which can be understood as the "AnTuTu benchmark" version for LED displays. It uses third-party equipment to capture images, and uses Macroblock's algorithm to score multiple dimensions such as low grayscale, refresh rate, color gamut, uniformity, bad points, and shooting consistency; the hardware is purchased by customers according to the recommended product numbers, and the software and weight models are serviced by us.
Hangjiashuo Display: This benchmark is developed by Macroblock. How do you ensure its fairness?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: Macroblock's chips and competitors' chips run on the same set of equipment and the same model. The score depends only on the final effect of the screen; the same applies to Macroblock's old chips—if they don't run well, they don't run well, and there will be no favoritism. As long as this ruler is established, it is fair to everyone. So we will not distort any benchmark scores. Our purpose is not to help Macroblock sell driver chips, but to establish a fair benchmarking system—"establishing a ruler". When the industry is still relying on specification sheets to speak for themselves, a fair, unified, and reproducible measurement method is a scarce public good at present. As long as your quality can withstand repeated measurements by the same ruler, this system will be a bonus for you.
Hangjiashuo Display: Who needs this measurement more at present? The overseas buyers mentioned earlier?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: This measurement system has two target groups: one is buyers, helping them judge falsely labeled specifications and solve the current problem of good first supply but deviation starting from the second screen; the other is screen manufacturers. First, screen manufacturers can adjust weights according to scenario needs, such as virtual shooting focusing on low grayscale and refresh rate, outdoor focusing on brightness and color temperature consistency, and meetings focusing on uniformity and long-term attenuation; second, it can run through the production line, shipping, engineering, and site, using the same ruler to prove batch consistency.
Hangjiashuo Display: From a business perspective, it sounds like Macroblock cannot directly benefit from this. Why is Macroblock willing to do it?
Lin Yisheng, Macroblock: For buyers, it solves the trouble of "unreliable bidding parameters"; for screen manufacturers, it solves "what to prove in different scenarios". Actually, it is all about helping our customers or our customers' customers solve problems. This is the first point.
Second, for Macroblock, our product quality is stable, and in most scenarios, we believe our performance is better than competitors. We also need some data or methods to prove our advantages. Therefore, Macroblock does not directly rely on this system to sell chips, but pulls the industry back from "comparing specification sheets" to "comparing data". In the long run, suppliers with stable quality will be willing to accept this ruler, and players who are not confident enough in their quality will naturally avoid it—so it is more like a touchstone, and its essence is to establish display credit.
Therefore, in the era of screens for machines, data is the most honest language; and manufacturers willing to put themselves under this ruler will gain the trust of buyers one step ahead.
Hangjiashuo Summary: Blue Ocean Hidden in the Red Sea
As the interview concludes, we have gained a strong perception: LED displays are stepping into a new world.
In the past, the ruler to judge the good or bad of an LED screen was parameters. This is the common discourse system in the industry. When parameters reach a certain threshold, it is difficult for human eyes to distinguish the differences. Brightness, refresh rate, grayscale—as long as the numbers on the specification sheet are eye-catching, the actual visual differences at the terminal will become blurred.
But now, the viewing objects of screens have become machines. Mobile phones, cameras, and camera equipment have a much higher sensitivity to capturing display quality than human eyes. Low grayscale flicker, color deviation, and uneven batch performance—these defects that are easy to ignore with the naked eye cannot hide under machine detection. Specification parameters can be modified, but real performance cannot be faked.
Macroblock's strategic layout of AI screen verification (MBEyes AI screen verification system) is superficially about screen measurement, but essentially about participating in the reconstruction of the industry's evaluation discourse power. When the industry's unified standards have not yet been implemented, taking the lead in establishing an objective and fair evaluation ruler—this is the first time the industry has an independent and credible evaluation system detached from manufacturers' self-certification.
This is a low-key but far-reaching industry turning point.
It represents that the competitive dimension of LED displays has been rewritten: "image quality" is no longer just marketing rhetoric, but transformed into a quantifiable, reproducible, and cross-batch comparable data asset.
Industrial boundaries are also changing simultaneously.
Panel manufacturers entering the market are not aiming at the CNY 50 billion stock market, but the long-term potential of standardization and productization of LED displays. The core value of glass substrates is not just to replace PCB substrates, but to allow LED display products to access the mature sales system and channel logic of panel manufacturers. At the same time, leading enterprises such as Liyade, Zhouming, Leiman, and San'an, which are deeply engaged in the PCB route for LED displays, are also promoting the MIP + glass substrate solution, which is enough to prove that the whole industry is actively exploring the direction of breaking the deadlock.
The two technology routes are integrating with each other, and the two major camps are exploring each other. The old industrial boundaries are gradually melting away, and a brand new industry order is brewing.
The seemingly fiercely competitive red ocean market hides blue ocean opportunities, and the core lies in continuously redefining competition itself.